


Vanishing Birthday

by Embyr52



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Parenthood, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22737913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Embyr52/pseuds/Embyr52
Summary: A short taking place sometime after 707’s Route. MC and 707 are now parents, but their son Jiseong is upset having discovered that his birthday is no longer on the calendar!Just a fluffy, slice-of-life parenting scene inspired by the oddities that are leap years and the adorable ness that is the minds of preschoolers.
Relationships: 707 | Choi Luciel/Main Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	Vanishing Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, this is my first fanfic, written several months ago, but now I’m uploading it here. I wrote this, cuz all I want from this game now is more post-route content. The intro chats are okay, and these Another Story bonus content is cool, but why can’t we have more things like the Valentine’s DLCs?! T-T So in my impatience, I took to writing. I’m sorry if it’s as cheesy and tooth-rotting as cheesecake. I haven’t written much stuff before, and half of me is a hopeless romantic, hehe.

“I wish every town could be like Ulthar.” MC sighed softly as she closed the book in her hands and placed it on the adjacent nightstand. She stretched her arms overhead before melting backward to recline against her husband. Tilting her head up to better view his face, she continued, “A place that outlaws the murdering of cats. And if someone does, they face the fury of a feline justice system.”

Saeyoung tore his attention away from whatever he had been jotting down on his phone to beam at her. “Right? You know, if we play our cards right, I bet we could convince Jumin to fund a research team to find out what spell was used.” He dropped into a deep, narration voice and made a motion with his free hand to highlight an invisible title before them. “Project: Feline Special Ops. Mission: to defend innocent and adorable kittens everywhere from human cruelty.” 

MC snorted at his theatrics then hummed contemplatively, "I don't know... cats teaming up together to take down and devour their enemies. That could be risky. What if they decide to take out cat abusers as well? I have a feeling that Tori would be the first to add your name to their kill list.”

“What!?” He feigned a look of complete disbelief. “I’ve never abused any cat! And Tori loooves me. Isn’t that right Tori?” 

Tori paused in the middle of washing her face, making a moments eye-contact with Saeyoung before narrowing her eyes and repositioning herself to face away from the feline fanatic. Her full name was Victoria, given to her by Jumin. But not surprisingly, Saeyoung had begun to call her ‘Tori’ shortly thereafter, much to the corporate heir’s annoyance. ‘I don’t see why you’d ask me to suggest a name if you’re not even going to use it,’ he had muttered, his voice thick with indignation. 

“Tori! Tori, Tori, Tori! Tooorrrriiiii!” Saeyoung began to chant her name, trying to recapture her attention. But the tabby continued to ignore him, merely twisting her ears back to ensure that he still remained out of physical range to snatch her up. 

MC laughed, “I wonder if she’s already coded your name somewhere in the knots of her yarn ball. Her secret list of enemies to one day take out.”

“Is that true?” He gasped, looking back up towards the cat. He threw out his arm in her direction as if trying to reach her from across the room. “How could you sell me out like that, Tori? I thought we had a special bond! You can’t do this to me; we’re family.” Saeyoung gave a crestfallen sigh when her only response was a flickering tail.

“And even if she doesn’t betray you, I’m sure Ell-” 

MC paused mid-sentence when she spotted their son standing just outside the room, peering around doorframe with red-rimmed, water-filled eyes.

“Jiseong? What’s wrong?” MC asked, her voice filled with concern. It broke her heart to see those soft aureolin eyes in tears. The small child responded by sobbing louder before breaking into a sprint towards the bed, nearly tripping in the process. He clambered over towards his mother who knelt forward to pull him into a loving embrace. Immediately setting his phone to the side, Saeyoung followed suit, wrapping his arms around his wife and son, gently rubbing Jiseong’s back in an effort to calm him down. After a few minutes, the loud sobs fell into soft sniffles, and he finally spoke.

“I’m not having a birthday party!” He announced as he pulled away, dragging his fist across his face to dry it. Sniffing, he gazed up at MC. His lower lip quavered and she could see new tears form at the corners of his eyes as he considered the revelation he had just shared.

“What? Not having a birthday party?” MC repeated his words, not sure what he meant. 

“I can’t. It’s not on the cow-ender.” He replied in a somewhat shaky, matter-of-fact tone. “They took it away from me.”

“Shh, it’s okay.” MC bit her lip, wanting to laugh. First from Jiseong’s mispronunciation of calendar. She shot a quick glance towards Saeyoung who was also holding back a grin. She wondered if he too was imagining an occult figure adorned with a dark hood who reaped bovine souls when they’re time ran out, leaving behind a field of dead cows along his path. She also wanted to laugh in relief, now understanding the source of her son’s troubled demeanor. Running her fingers through his auburn hair, she tried to console him. “No one took it away. You’re birthday is on the leap day.”

“What’s a ‘leap day’?”

“It’s a day that we add to the calendar every four years. Usually, February only has 28 days, but on leap years, it has 29 days.”

“Why?” Jiseong pushed further, not yet satisfied with her answer.

“Well, when the Earth goes around the sun, that’s one year. And one year is roughly 365 days, but not exactly. It actually takes about that amount of time plus a fourth of a day.”

“Plus four days?” He held up four fingers.

“Not four days. One fourth of a day.” MC crossed her arms, trying to find a way to help him understand. Jiseong was still learning numbers, and although he could now count up to around 50, he had yet to be introduced to fractions. “Um, how do I explain this?”

“Have no fear!” Saeyoung exclaimed and leapt out of the bed. Striking a pose, he added, “The Great Defender of Justice shall save the day! Just wait right here. The hero must first gather some supplies to take on this mission!” And before either of the two could react, he bolted out of the room. Jiseong, whose sorrowful countenance had been long abandoned, now brimmed with excitement as he waited for his father’s return. 

When Saeyoung reentered the room, he released the contents in his hands which clinged together as they landed onto the bed ‘s covers . He then knelt beside the bed and began sorting the assortment of silver and bronze coins. Peering over her son who was now seated in her lap, MC noticed that the collection contained only ₩10 and ₩50 coins, although the latter had been crossed out and been replaced with a ‘40’ written in marker. Holding one of each coin up, he proceeded to explain their values.

“So if I have three of these coins, can I trade them for this one?” Three bronze coins rested in his palm as he held up a silver coin in his opposite hand. “Is that enough?”

“No! You need four.” Jiseong smiled, grabbing another coin from the pile and adding it to his father’s hand. 

“Correct!~” Saeyoung cheered in a sing-song voice. He quizzed his son a few more times until satisfied that Jiseong understood their values. 

“Okay, so let’s say every year, I have to give you a 40 coin and a 10 coin. And after four years, you’ll have four of each coin, right?” Jiseong nodded, following along as Saeyoung placed the coins in front of him. “But there’s one small problem. You don’t like the bronze coins. You’ll only accept the silver. So instead, I have to pay you like this.” He picked up two of each coin, placing the silver ₩50 ('₩40') coin in front of Jiseong and the bronze ₩10 to the side. He repeated this four times, counting out each year.

“So now I still have four of these coins that I owe you.” He held up the coins he had withheld from Jiseong. “So what can I do to pay you back?”

“You can give them to me this year.” Jiseong suggested as he held out a hand, eager to take the coins he was supposedly owed. 

“Ah ah ah~” He sang as he moved the coins out of his son’s reach. Jiseong pouted, clearly disappointed that he was being cheated of his money. The first pile of eight coins was clearly worth more than the four he had received. “You don't accept ₩10 coins, remember? But, maybe. Hmm... Just maybe...” Saeyoung wondered aloud, then snatched up a silver coin. “...can I trade them for a 40 coin!?”

“Yes!” He shouted ecstatically in reply. “Then you can pay me!”

“So, on the last year, instead of giving you one large coin, I’ll give you, how many?”

“Two!”

“Ding dong ding! That’s my little genius!” Saeyoung grinned handing him the coins before tousling his son’s hair. “See, the silver coins are like the days. But you cant have part of a day, that would be silly—you’d wake up and have to go right back to bed even though the sun is still up. So just like the money, every four years, we add an whole extra day. That means, in about three years, we can celebrate your birthday on the 29th.”

“No.” Jiseong mumbled, looking down at the coin. His eyebrows drew together and his face fell into a frown. 

“Hmm?” His father hummed quizzically and tilted his head to the side.

“No!” He yelled angrily and he drew his hands into fists. “I don’t want to be five for that long! I want to have the party this year! I want to turn six this year!”

The corner of Saeyoung’s mouth twitched before forming into a lopsided grin. Snickering at his son’s rather comedic train of thought, he fell forward and buried his face in the bed’s surface, his laughter muffled by the covers. MC raised a hand to her face, rubbing the corners of her skull. Saeyoung’s blatant amusement was doing little to diffuse their son’s worries. If anything, it was making it worse.

“It’s not funny!” Jiseong pouted, upset that he wasn’t being taken seriously. Saeyoung sat back up and wiped a tear out of his eye. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to recompose himself before responding.

“No, you’re right. I shouldn’t be laughing.” He apologized then moved on to giving his son a serious answer. Or at least an answer while maintaining a serious face. “Well, unfortunately you’ll have to be patient.” He raised his arms in a shrug and sadly shook his head. Throwing in a sigh, he added, “Just think, by the time you finally turn six, your sisters will be older than you.”

“But they can’t be older than me!” Jiseong’s eyes widened in horror as he tried to desperately deny his father’s words. He took pride in being the responsible and more capable -older- brother. To think that he might have to become the twin’s baby brother was distressing. MC gave her husband’s shoulder a light shove and shot him a somewhat exasperated look. In return, he shrugged and raised an eyebrow, innocently denying her silent accusation, all-the-while hiding another cheeky smirk behind his hand. She replied by rolling her eyes and throwing him a half-hearted smile before giving up and returning her attention back to their son.

“Don’t listen to him, Jiseong. We’ll still have your party” She comforted him, pulling out her phone. Opening up her scheduling app, she scrolled over to the next month and showed it to the down-casted child still nestled in her lap. “See? We’ll celebrate it right here on the 28th, this day right here.”

His golden eyes scanned over the date, and although he didn’t recognize the majority of the words on the screen, he trusted that what his mother had said was true. He turned back to look at her. “And I can still be six years old?” 

“Well, you lived through this last year, didn’t you?” Jiseong nodded and MC gave him a warm smile in return. “So yes, you will be a year older.”

“Well... unless you want us to wait.” Saeyoung mused, tracing circles on top of the bed cover. He glanced towards this son and made a hopeful grin. “That way, you could stay our cute and adorable, little five-year-old-Jiseong until then!”

“No, I don’t want to stay small. I want to grow up big.” 

“You want to keep growing? But you’ve already grown so much over this past year!” His father complained.

“Mhmm. And one day, I’m gonna be bigger than you!” Jiseong giggles as he jumped out of his mother’s arms and tackled his father.

“Bigger than me?” Saeyoung playfully gasped in disbelief. 

“I’m gonna be this big.” He stretched out an arm, positioning his hand several inches above Saeyoung’s head. Then, retracting it back, he began listing off a series of large objects. “Bigger than a truck. Bigger than a house. Bigger than the moon. Bigger than…” He paused for a moment. His eyes flashed and the corner of his mouth rose as he considered the biggest object he could think of.

“Bigger than... a whale!” Jiseong yelled as he launched himself into the air with arms spread wide, trying to make himself as tall as he possibly could. He made a dramatic crash landing, falling backward onto the bed. A smile as wide as the whale he tried to emphasize stretched across his face. Saeyoung laughed, not sure which he found funnier. The fact that his son thought a whale was larger than the moon or his explosive energy as he tried to convey such a large size.

“Oh yeah? Well not if you don’t eat your veggies. In fact, you might just start shrinking!” Saeyoung lunged forward, blowing a raspberry into his son’s undefended stomach, the skin now slightly exposed when the fabric of his pajama top had shifted during his fall. 

“Noooo!” Jiseong howled and fell into screams of laughter as his father proceeded to tickle his sides. He fought and squirmed in an attempt to escape, launching a foot into his father’s face in the process. Saeyoung let out a grunt and raised a hand to massage his injured jaw, giving Jiseong the chance he needed to free himself from his father’s hold. The child retreated to the safety of his mother’s lap and turned around to observe his father who had since recovered. Jiseong raised his hands in front of him, ready for a second offense should Saeyoung attempt one.

“And you can’t expect to grow if don’t get enough sleep.” MC gave her riled up son a hug, rocking him side to side. She gave the top of his head a loud kiss and added, “Speaking of which, it’s already past your bedtime.”

Jiseong let out a whine as MC released him. Moving to the edge of the bed, she stood up and motioned for Jiseong to do the same. “C’mon, let’s head back to your room to get you tucked in.”

“But I’m not tired.” He protested, making no move to follow her.

“You have to at least try.” Saeyoung handed his son the coins from before and then lifted the groaning child onto his shoulders. “How about I read you a story?” Jiseong hummed, considering the offer as the three made their way to his bedroom. Shaking his head in decline, he countered:

“You have to read two stories tonight!”

“What? Two stories?” Saeyoung inhaled sharply. He woefully stuck his lower lip out and made a dramatic sniff. “Have my storytelling skills lost their entertainment value already? Are you sure one story isn’t enough?” 

An extra day in the year. An extra coin tucked into his right hand. Jiseong was eager to institute this new and peculiar rule in other situations. He reached down with his free hand to pat the side of his father’s face in comfort and beamed. “Every four days, it has to be two stories now, okay?” 

~Fin~


End file.
